On the morning before Christmas, Adam pushed his food cart into the castle's Great Hall and was startled by the crowd gathered before him.
What was going on?
"Ah, Adam, you're finally here!"
Using his height advantage and his knowledge of Adam's usual route, Cedric quickly spotted Adam and squeezed out of the crowd to stand before him.
"Wow! You even got yourself a cart?"
The food cart appeared to contain nothing but lids of various materials and shapes. Cedric sniffed, but could not identify the scent, and could not help asking curiously,
"What's in there?"
"All kinds of delicious food."
Adam kept him in suspense and looked toward the crowd not far away.
"What are you all doing here?"
"Waiting for you."
"...Waiting for me?"
"Yeah. Remember the advertisement you posted in the common room before?"
Adam hesitated.
"Of course I remember... but are there really this many Hufflepuffs staying at school for Christmas?"
"Some decided not to go home after hearing the news, but that's not the point."
Cedric glanced at the crowd. The people around its edges had already noticed them.
"When the other houses saw so many Hufflepuffs gathered here, they came over out of curiosity too. More and more people kept gathering..."
Cedric looked at Adam, who swallowed hard, and shrugged.
"Anyway, I hope you prepared enough food. I think nearly everyone staying at Hogwarts for the holidays is here."
"Uh..."
Adam hesitated for a moment.
"There should be enough..."
After all, if there was not enough, he could make more. The Twin Card's spirits were already waiting inside the cart.
"But isn't it a little bad for so many people to gather here? The hall is almost packed, and it'll affect people just trying to walk through."
When he had decided to set up shop here, he had never imagined there would be this many people. Even when classes were busiest, the hall had never been this crowded!
"You have a point... How about the North Tower? The ground floor used to be a storeroom, and it's quite spacious."
Cedric suggested.
"Okay!"
"Then hurry over first. I think they've noticed us. I'll go tell them..."
Noticing several Hufflepuffs who knew him pushing through the crowd toward them, Adam hurriedly levitated the food cart, grabbed it, and ran. Cedric headed toward the crowd to buy Adam some time.
By the time Cedric led the crowd to the North Tower, Adam had already cleared out a large space on its ground floor. Huge menus hung on the surrounding walls.
Adam and his food cart stood in the center of the space.
"Please line up according to the arrows, one at a time~"
Adam called out to the approaching crowd.
"While you're waiting, you can look over the menu and decide what you want to buy~"
The people at the front had originally all been Hufflepuffs who trusted Adam's cooking deeply, but after hearing the latter half of his sentence, most of them slowed down and decided to check the menu first.
The flyers in the common room had said there would be dozens of new items today.
Cedric was one of those who did not hesitate. He was the first to walk up to Adam's food cart.
"One of everything!"
Having money meant he could be willful. He did not need to choose—he wanted it all!
"One of everything?!"
Adam froze, then reminded him,
"But there are a hundred different foods here..."
"A hundred?!"
Cedric was stunned. He looked at the food cart in front of him, which did not seem remotely capable of holding so much.
Could it be...
"An Undetectable Extension Charm?"
"I'm only a first-year. How could I know such advanced magic? I just used a few storage tricks."
By storage tricks, he meant the Wheel Card. This Clow Card's magic could extend, distort, and connect space.
Seeing Adam's sincere expression, Cedric did not question him further. Maybe it was something like a Shrinking Charm.
"Then recommend a few new items for me. I didn't eat breakfast, and I'm starving."
"Eastern food or Western food?"
"Eastern!" Since he was trying new items, of course he wanted the most unusual ones.
"You didn't eat breakfast? Then have a bowl of Eight Treasure Rice. For the rest, you can look at that wall. Those are all new dishes from China, sorted into staples, desserts, and soups."
Cedric followed Adam's finger and tried to pick out several dishes that interested him from the dazzling array.
"Amber Nuts? Dragon Beard Candy? Heart Too Soft? Those names sound so special. I'll have one of each."
Experience had taught him that Chinese foods with strange names often held pleasant surprises. Still, just in case, Cedric ordered two that sounded more ordinary.
"And one Mung Bean Cake and one Sesame Tangyuan."
"Sure. Heart Too Soft and Eight Treasure Rice should be eaten while hot. The Sesame Tangyuan has soup in it, so be careful not to spill it—"
Adam opened the magically enhanced cart, which had been extended and connected within by the Wheel Card, quickly packed Cedric's order, and even included a large cup of Pu-erh Tea to cut through the richness.
In truth, British people did not seem to need anything to cut through richness. The amount of sugar they put into desserts daily looked like a lethal dose to Adam. Everything he sold counted as low-sugar to them.
Cedric paid, took his food, and started eating immediately. He began with the Amber Nuts, which were not steaming, and ate as he walked. The Hufflepuff behind him, who had not decided yet but had also skipped breakfast, swallowed.
"I'll have the same as Cedric!"
Business at the little shop was booming. Besides the Hufflepuffs, quite a few students from the other three houses were indeed drawn over and bought a little something to try.
That was enough for Adam to achieve his goal.
"No wonder the Great Hall was so quiet this morning. So everyone was here enjoying delicious food."
Adam, who was tidying up the food cart, looked up to see Professor Dumbledore standing before it with a smile.
"I hope I'm not too late?"
"Of course not, Professor. What would you like?"
Adam pointed at the menus on the two walls.
Professor Dumbledore raised an eyebrow as he looked over the menu.
Since he wanted to expand the business instead of keeping it as a small affair within his house, Adam naturally would not continue using ingredients from the Hogwarts kitchens. The prices had also been adjusted to more reasonable levels.
Professor Dumbledore had come after breakfast. After ordering three desserts, he sighed.
"If only I had known about this before breakfast."
The air around him was filled with sweet scents. It was simply too tempting for him.
Professor Dumbledore took the packaged desserts and left. Adam did not think much of it, since it was not Professor Dumbledore's first time visiting the little shop. What he did not expect was for Professor Dumbledore to return not long afterward.
Professor Dumbledore held a steaming bowl of Heart Too Soft, his face brimming with happiness.
"I wonder whether you could take an order from the school and prepare a Christmas Eve buffet for Hogwarts?"
An order from Hogwarts?!
While Adam was still reeling in surprise, Professor Dumbledore continued,
"Of course, you may not have prepared enough food. However, the Hogwarts kitchens and the House-elves can provide you with help. The prices will still be calculated according to your menu."
As he spoke, Professor Dumbledore gave him a mischievous wink.
"After all, the Board of Governors is paying."
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